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Slovensko / Slovakia / Eslováquia

Is a landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava. The second largest city is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, UN, OECD, WTO, UNESCO and other international organizations.

The Slavs arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia in the fifth and sixth centuries AD during the Migration Period. In the course of history, various parts of today's Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire (the first known political unit of Slavs), Great Moravia, Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Habsburg Empire, and Czechoslovakia. An independent Slovak state briefly existed during World War II, during which Slovakia was a dependency of the Nazi Germany 1939–1944. From 1945 Slovakia once again became a part of Czechoslovakia. The present-day Slovakia became an independent state on January 1, 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of its federation with the Czech Republic.

Slovakia is a high-income advanced economy with one of the fastest growth rates in the EU and OECD. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on January 1, 2009. As of 2010, Slovakia together with Slovenia are the only former Communist nations to be part of European Union, Eurozone, Schengen Area and NATO simultaneously.

 

History

Please go to :

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Slovakia

 

Geography

The Slovak landscape is noted primarily for its mountainous nature, with the Carpathian Mountains extending across most of the northern half of the country. Amongst these mountain ranges are the high peaks of the Tatra mountains. To the north, close to the Polish border, are the High Tatras which are a popular skiing destination and home to many scenic lakes and valleys as well as the highest point in Slovakia, the Gerlachovský štít at 2,655 metres (8,711 ft), and the country's highly symbolic mountain Kriváň.

Major Slovak rivers are the Danube, the Váh and the Hron. The Tisa marks the Slovak-Hungarian border for only 5 km.

The Slovak climate lies between the temperate and continental climate zones with relatively warm summers and cold, cloudy and humid winters. The area of Slovakia can be divided into three kinds of climatic zones and the first zone can be divided into two sub-zones.

 

Other Info

Ofical name:

Slovenská Republika

 

Independence:

January 1, 1993

 

Area:

49.035 km2

 

Inhabitants:

6.000.000

 

Languages:

Croatian [hrv] Dialects: Croatian. Classification: Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western

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German, Standard [deu] 15,000 in Czech Republic (1999). Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, German, Middle German, East Middle German

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Hungarian [hun] 597,400 in Slovakia (1993). In the south. Alternate names: Magyar. Classification: Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Ugric, Hungarian

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Polish [pol] 50,000 in Slovakia. Alternate names: Polski. Classification: Indo-European, Slavic, West, Lechitic

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Romani, Carpathian [rmc] 220,000 in Slovakia (1980 UBS). Population includes Czech Republic. Northern, eastern, and southern Slovakia. Alternate names: Bashaldo, Romungro, Hungarian-Slovak Romani. Dialects: Moravian Romani, East Slovakian Romani, West Slovakian Romani. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Romani, Northern

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Romani, Vlax [rmy] 500 Lovari in Slovakia. Dialects: Lovari, Kalderash (Kaldarári). Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Romani, Vlax

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Rusyn [rue] 50,000 in Slovakia (1991 census). Northeast Slovakia, Preshov Region. Alternate names: Ruthenian, Carpathian, Carpatho-Rusyn. Dialects: Lemko. Classification: Indo-European, Slavic, East

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Slovak [slk] 4,865,450 in Slovakia (1990 WA). Population total all countries: 5,011,120. Western upland country around Bratislava. Also spoken in Canada, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Ukraine, USA. Alternate names: Slovakian. Dialects: Western and central dialects of Slovak are inherently intelligible with Czech. Classification: Indo-European, Slavic, West, Czech-Slovak

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Slovakian Sign Language [svk] Classification: Deaf sign language

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Ukrainian [ukr] 100,000 in Slovakia. Classification: Indo-European, Slavic, East

 

Capital city:

Bratislava

 

Meaning country name:

The origin of the word Slav remains controversial. Excluding the ambiguous mention by Ptolemy of tribes Stavanoi and Soubenoi, the earliest references of "Slavs" under this name are from the 6th century. The word is written variously as Sklabenoi, Sklauenoi, or Sklabinoi in Byzantine Greek, and as Sclaueni, Sclauini, or Sthlaueni in Latin. The oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic and dating from the 9th century attest slověne to describe the Slavs around Thessalonica. Other early attestations include Old Russian slověně "an East Slavic group near Novgorod", Slovutich "Dnieper river", and Serbo-Croatian Slavonica, a river.

There are two alternative scholarly theories as to the origin of the Slavs ethnonym, both very tentative: according to the first theory[1], it derives from a hypothetically reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *(s)lawos, cognate to Greek laós "population, people", which itself has no commonly accepted etymology. The second theory (forwarded by e.g. Max Vasmer) suggests that the word originated as a river name (compare the etymology of the Volcae), comparing it with such cognates as Latin cluere "to cleanse, purge", a root not known to have been continued in Slavic, however, and it appears in other languages with similar meanings (cf. Greek klyzein "to wash", Old English hlūtor "clean, pure", Old Norse hlér "sea", Welsh clir "clear, clean", Lithuanian šlúoti "to sweep").

Folk etymologies and scholars such as Roman Jacobson traditionally link the name either with the word sláva "glory", "fame" or slovo "word, talk" (both akin to OSl slusati "to hear" from the IE root *kleu-). Thus slověne would mean "people who speak (the same language)", i.e. people who understand each other, as opposed to the Slavic word for foreign nations, nemtsi, meaning "speechless people" (from Slavic němi - mute, silent, dumb), as for example in Polish: Niemcy is Germany.

 

Description Flag:

The current form of the flag of Slovakia was adopted by Slovakia's Constitution, which came into force on September 3, 1992. The flag, in common with other Slavic nations, uses the red, white and blue colours.

Slovakia's flag in its current form (but with another seal on it or without any seal) can be dated back to the revolutionary year 1848, when Slovaks were fighting against the Magyars (see: The Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas). It was also used semi-officially in Czechoslovakia before World War II, by the Slovak Republic during WWII, and finally adopted (without the seal) on March 1, 1990 as the flag of the Slovak Republic within Czechoslovakia. The seal was added on September 3, 1992 and a special law describing the details of the flag followed in February 1993.

The blue triangle in the current flag of the Czech Republic, with which Slovakia formed Czechoslovakia up to the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia, was taken over from the blue strip of Slovakia's flag in 1920 into the flag of Czechoslovakia. The flag of Czechoslovakia was taken over by the Czech Republic in late 1992 in direct violation of the 1992 Act on the Division of Czechoslovakia explicitly forbidding state symbols to be used by the two successor states.

Since the Slovak flag without the seal is identical to that of the modern Flag of Russia and it can also be compared to the modern Flag of Slovenia, the Constitution of Slovakia added the seal in September 1992. The seal is Slovakia's coat of arms. For a description of the seal (a double cross and three hills), see Coat of Arms of Slovakia.

 

Coat of arms:

The coat of arms of Slovakia is composed of a silver (argent) double cross, elevated on the middle peak of a dark blue mountain consisting of three peaks. It is situated on a red (gules) early gothic shield. Extremities of the cross are amplificated, and its ends are concaved.

The double cross in the Slovak coat of arms originated in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The symbol, the so-called patriarchal cross, appeared in the Byzantine Empire in huge numbers in the 9th century. While the interpretation of a simple Christian cross is quite unambiguous, there are many explanations for the meaning of the double cross. One of them says that the first horizontal line symbolized the secular power and the other horizontal line the ecclesiastic power of Byzantine emperors. The first cross represents the death and the second cross the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Byzantine Empire of the 9th century, the double cross was not a religious, but a political symbol used by Byzantine clerks and missionaries.

The double cross arrived in the territory of current-day Slovakia probably not later than during the 9th century mission of Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia. This traditional Slovak view has been recently disputed. Though used frequently in Great Moravia, it was not a state symbol at that time, because there were no state symbols in the modern sense in Europe at that time yet. It is however possible that it was used as a symbol of the king (analogously to the eagle of the Frankish kings). By means of Zwentibold (the ruler of Lorraine, son of the German emperor Arnulf of Carinthia and godchild of the Great Moravian king Svatopluk I), this symbol got to Lorraine and is called the cross of Lorraine there.

 

National Anthem: Nad Tatrou sa blýska

 

Nad Tatrou sa blýska

hromy divo bijú.

Zastavme ich* bratia,

ved' sa ony stratia,

Slováci ožijú.

To Slovensko naše

posiaľ tvrdo spalo.

Ale blesky hromu

vzbudzujú ho k tomu,

aby sa prebralo.

Už Slovensko vstáva

putá si strháva

Hej rodina milá

hodina odbila,

žije matka Sláva

Ešte jedle rastú

na krivánskej strane

Kto jak Slovák cíti,

nech sa šable chytí,

a medzi nás stane

 

English

There is lightning over the Tatra,

thunderclaps are striking ferociously.

Let us stop them, brothers, (or Let us stop, brothers, in the version with "sa")

(you will see that) they will disappear,

the Slovaks will revive.

This, our Slovakia

has long been fast asleep.

But the lightning of the thunder

is rousing it

to wake up.

Already Slovakia is waking up,

throwing off its bonds

Hey dear family

the hour has ticked away

Mother Glory is alive (Glory = Sláva, the word, which according to some forms the base of the words Slovaks and Slavs)

Firs yet grow

on the slopes of Kriváň

Whoever considers himself a Slovak,

may he take a sabre

and rise with us.

 

Internet Page: www.government.gov.sk

www.slovakia.travel

www.slovakia.org

www.slovakia-republik.com

 

Slovakia in diferent languages

 

eng | bre | fao | fin | jav | kal | lin | nor | roh-enb | roh-eno | swa: Slovakia

ast | glg | oci | spa: Eslovaquia

crh | gag | kaa | uzb: Slovakiya / Словакия

ina | roh-gri | roh-srs | rup: Slovachia

cos | ita | scn: Slovacchia

deu | ltz | nds: Slowakei / Slowakei

fra | frp | jnf: Slovaquie

hau | kin | run: Slovakiya

ces | slk: Slovensko

cor | hat: Slovaki

dsb | hsb: Słowakska

est | vor: Slovakkia

ind | msa: Slovakia / سلوۏاكيا

afr: Slowakye

arg: Eslobaquia

aze: Slovakiya / Словакија

bam: Silɔwaki

bos: Slovačka / Словачка

cat: Eslovàquia

csb: Słowackô

cym: Slofacia

dan: Slovakiet

epo: Slovakujo; Slovakio

eus: Eslovakia

fry: Slowakije

fur: Slovachie

gla: An t-Slòbhac; Slobhaigia

gle: An tSlóvaic / An tSlóvaic; An tSlóbhaic / An tSlóḃaic

glv: Yn Clovack

hrv: Slovačka

hun: Szlovákia

ibo: Slọvekia

isl: Slóvakía

kmr: Slovakî / Словаки / سلۆڤاکی; Slavakî / Славаки / سلاڤاکی

kur: Slovakya / سلۆڤاکیا

lat: Slovachia; Slovakia; Slovacia

lav: Slovākija

lim: Slowakieë

lit: Slovakija

lld-bad: Slovachia

lld-grd: Slabochia

mlg: Slôvakia

mlt: Slovakkja; Slovakja

mol: Slovacia / Словачия

mri: Horowākia

nld: Slowakije

nrm: Eslovaqùie

pol: Słowacja

por: Eslováquia

que: Isluwakya

rmy: Slovaiko / स्लोवाइको

ron: Slovacia

slo: Slovakia / Словакиа; Slovakzem / Словакзем

slv: Slovaška

sme: Slovákia

smg: Slovakėjė

smo: Solovakia

sqi: Sllovakia

srd: Islovàkia

swe: Slovakien

szl: Suowacyjo

tet: Eslovákia

tgl: Slobakya

ton: Silōvakia

tuk: Slowakiýa / Словакия

tur: Slovakya; İslovakya

vie: Xlô-va-ki-a

vol: Slovakän

wln: Eslovakeye

wol: Eslowaaki

zza: Slowakya

chu: Словѣньско (Slověnĭsko)

alt | bul | kir | kjh | kom | krc | kum | rus | tyv | udm: Словакия (Slovakija)

che | chv | oss: Словаки (Slovaki)

mon | xal: Словак (Slovak)

abq: Словакия (Słovakija)

bak: Словакия / Slovakiya

bel: Славакія / Słavakija; Славаччына / Słavaččyna

chm: Словакий (Slovakij)

kaz: Словакия / Slovakïya / سلوۆاكيا

kbd: Словакие (Slovakie)

mkd: Словачка (Slovačka)

srp: Словачка / Slovačka

tat: Словакия / Slovakiä

tgk: Словакия / سلاوکیه / Slovakija

ukr: Словаччина (Slovaččyna)

ara: سلوفاكيا (Silūfākiyā)

fas: اسلواکی / اسلوواکی / Eslovâki

prs: سلواکیا (Slovākiyā)

pus: سلوواکيا / سلواکيا (Slowākiyā); سلوواکي / سلواکي (Slowākī)

uig: سلوۋاكىيە / Slowakiye / Словакия

urd: سلواکیا (Salavākiyā); سلوواکیا (Salovākiyā); سلویکیا (Salavækiyā); سلوواکیہ (Salovākiyâ)

div: ސްލޯވެކިއާ (Slōveki'ā)

syr: ܣܠܘܦܟܝܐ (Slōpakiyā); ܣܠܘܒܩܝܐ (Slōbaqiyā)

heb: סלובקיה (Slôṿaqyah); סלובאקיה (Slôṿâqyah)

lad: איסלוב'אקיה / Eslovakia

yid: סלאָװאַקײַ (Slovakay)

amh: ስሎቫኪያ (Slovakiya)

ell: Σλοβακία (Slovakía)

hye: Սլովակիա (Slovakia)

kat: სლოვაკეთი (Slovakeṭi); სლოვაკია (Slovakia)

hin: स्लोवाकिया (Slovākiyā); स्लोवेकिया (Slovekiyā)

nep: स्लोभाकिया (Slobʰākiyā)

ben: স্লোভাকিয়া (Slobʰākiyā)

pan: ਸਲੋਵਾਕੀਆ (Slovākīā)

kan: ಸ್ಲೊವಾಕಿಯ (Slovākiya)

mal: സ്ലോവാക്യ (Slōvākya)

tam: ஸ்லொவாக்கியா (Slovākkiyā)

tel: స్లొవాకియా (Slovākiyā)

zho: 斯洛伐克 (Sīluòfákè)

yue: 斯洛伐克 (Sīlāaifahāk)

jpn: スロヴァキア (Surovakia); スロバキア (Surobakia)

kor: 슬로바키아 (Seullobakia)

bod: སི་ལོ་ཕ་ཁེ་ (Si.lo.pʰa.kʰe.); སི་ལོ་ཏྥུ་ཁེ་ (Si.lo.tpʰu.kʰe.)

mya: ဆလုိဗက္ကီးယား (Sʰálobeʿkìyà)

tha: สโลวาเกีย (Salōwākiya)

lao: ສະໂລວາກີ (Salōvākī)

khm: ស្លូវ៉ាគី (Slūvākī)

 

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Uploaded on March 10, 2010